Five times Cath made it all better
by Belker
Summary: ...and one time Steve did the same. A few short ones, which find Steve in some difficult and scary situations... A mix of humor and hurt/comfort.
1. Chapter 1

_Sooo… this one's to try and break my writer's block. It's a "five times that…" story, but may well end up a three times that… A mix of humor and hurt/comfort. Next chapters will be up in a day or so. I don't own the rights to H50, but I do hope you enjoy! /Belker_

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><p><em>First time<em>

"Geedonk? Really?"

"It's a word!"

"Not in the real world, it isn't!"

"Catherine, I swear I use it all the time. You should ask Danny." Steve sounded serious enough but couldn't quite hide his smirk and Cath, navy intel officer that she was, called him on it immediately.

"You're such a fibber! I hate you!" she laughed and threw a popcorn at him.

"I didn't make the rules for Scrabble, now did I?" Steve ducked the fluffy missile easily all the while fiddling with the small plastic tiles. "Double letter _and_ triple word: seems I get 39 points for… _geedonk_. Go SEALs!" he crowed and scribbled on the notepad.

"I'm so happy for you that your life in the United States Navy has given you something of use," Cath scoffed and hit him square in the forehead with another piece of corn.

Steve triumphantly smiled and leaned back on the couch with his arms over his head. "Seems to me I'm winning this- _Ouch!_" He flinched and rubbed his eye.

"What happened?" Cath watched him blink his left eye furiously before rubbing it again.

"Got something in my eye. Hurts like hell." Tears were starting to roll down his left cheek and Cath scooted closer to him.

"Let me see." She grabbed his head none too gently and turned him to face her. "Open your eye, c'mon."

"I can't! Probably got a piece of your vicious snack scratching my cornea," he whined and tried to turn away, squeezing the eye shut, operative word being '_tried_' as Cath held him firmly in place. "It feels better already," he was quick to add, when he found himself trapped in an obviously well rehearsed, steely head lock.

"Don't be such a baby," she smirked. "Open up!"

"Cath! Really – it doesn't hurt that much now." He squinted his uninjured eye and tried to look serious.

"Yeah, I don't believe you. Now open up those baby blues."

He saw no other choice but to do as he was told, muttering under his breath.

"What was that?" Cath asked as she pried his red eye open to have a look.

"Said I don't have baby blues. Danny's got baby blues. I don't have – OW!" He flinched as she stabbed him in the eye with what felt like a smoldering hot poker, and backed up to the other end of the couch with his hand protectively over his face.

"Got it!" Cath cried triumphantly, totally ignoring his frown (he was going for Hurt Face, but he never seemed to get that one right) and held her index finger out for him to inspect. He leaned closer suspiciously.

"What is it? A tiny cactus?"

"It's one of your ridiculously long eye lashes, Cyclops!" she laughed and blew it off her finger. "Make a wish!"

"Wish mom would have let me cut them off when I was in high school," he grumbled and wiped his face clear of any traces of his tears.

"Hey!" Cath cheered. "EYELASH – 98 points! I win!"

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><p><em>Meh..! What do you think? Has Steve ever complained about, you know NORMAL stuff? We've seen him jump off roofs and give himself tetanus shots, but he seems wary around dogs and he can't eat spicy food the way Joe can… I don't know, just having fun!<em>

_Geedonk/gedunk according to internet: Navy slang - Candy, or a place that sells candy (namely Gedunk bars)._


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for making a gal feel welcome, you guys! Here come the next two times..._

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><p><em>The second time<em>

Sleep was far away. Steve was bone tired, but knew he couldn't close his eyes for more than a few minutes lest the images would come, and with them sound and smell. He'd unintentionally drifted off a few hours ago and was violently awoken by those dreams. Dreams of war. Of death.

His mind was struggling to handle the chaos that was last week by dreaming of it by night, he knew all about that. How it was natural and normal and even healthy (his shrink's words - not his). How that screwed up head of his didn't know yesterday from three years ago, Hawaii from Afghanistan, bank robbers from the Taliban. Grace from Freddie.

In his nightmares he had seen Grace been shot, blown up, mutilated… For several nights he hadn't been able to catch forty winks without waking up to the feeling of his heart beating its way through his ribcage; a mixture of sweat and tears rolling off his face and the very air in the room reverberating from his cry. For a moment he'd not recognize his room or bed or the smells that drifted in from the window. Always frightened. Always alone.

So the night had found him bleary eyed and sluggish, watching a rerun of Florida State crushing Northwestern, after he'd spent a couple of hours in the water trying to rid the memories by way of total exhaustion. It had worked before and he had no doubt it would work this time.

Still – life just sucked until it then.

When the soft knock on the door startled him, he realized he had been about to drift off again, only quick reflexes saving his sweatpants from being drenched in coffee. He pulled his gun from the drawer although he doubted an armed assassin would knock once, let alone twice, before offing him. Trying for stealth and achieving half stumble, he reached the door and opened it slowly, gun barrel making up the welcome party.

"Steve… Hey, it's me."

"Catherine? What are you doing here?" He was stunned. "You're…I mean you're… I thought you were -"

His nonsense was cut off abruptly by her fierce hug and soft cooing in his ear. "Shush now. I came home as soon as I heard."

H50

She guided him to the couch, urged him to lie down and put his head in her lap and he did so without protest. She threw the old quilt over him and stroked his hair until long after his falling asleep. He lay unmoving on the couch for nine hours and when he woke she kissed his sleep tousled hair, gave him a cup of coffee and welcomed him to a brand new day.

Steve smiled for the first time in weeks.

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><p><em>The third time<em>

Steve's adrenaline level was off the charts. His heart beat in a staccato rhythm and his pupils were blown wide. Sweat was building between his shoulder blades, starting to slowly trickle down his spine. He was on high alert, his senses taking in everything; the terrible sounds of torture, the gut turning smells and the bright lights; perfect for interrogation. The only way out was blocked by his alert guard. He paced the tiny space and tried to calm down, tried to think!

Then it was too late. They came for him; dragged him away and he had no choice but to follow…

H50

Catherine looked up from her magazine as her boyfriend returned looking pale and shaky, but otherwise in good health.

"You okay there, sailor?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said tersely. "Let's just get out of here before they change their minds." He barely had the patience to hold the door for her, vibrating with pent-up frustration.

"How'd it go?" she asked once they were outside in the open air.

He gave her a face Danny would no doubt already have a name for. "No cavities, but she was talking about 'pulling those partially erupted wisdom teeth'…" That last part was spoken with a shudder and a glare over his shoulder at the dentist's clinic. "Now let's get out of here so I can relax – until next year."

Cath was not surprised by the non cavities diagnosis: she knew his anally rigorous routine with toothbrush and floss and fluoride. "At least you didn't have to get braces," she teased and could hardly keep her laugh from bubbling out of her mouth as the picture of Steve with railroad tracks in his mouth came unbidden to her.

"Very funny," he deadpanned.

"Well…" Catherine drawled, "I for one love a man with a few crooked teeth…"

"Let's go home!"

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><p><em>One angsty and one notsomuch. Do you have any great ideas for the last two? I have something in mind, but it's not easy! That man has no fear. Or..?<em>

_/Belker_


	3. Chapter 3

_Got kind of wrapped up in RL, but I finished tweaking this last night. Hope you'll like it. /B_

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><p><em>The fourth time<em>

Cath stomped snow off her boots before she slammed the door to the dingy motel room open, all the while yelling excitedly; "Steve, we got him! We finally booked that son of a…! Chin managed to clean up the surveillance tape and–" She stopped mid sentence when she realized her partner wasn't there to hear her splendid news, and wrenched off her thick winter coat and knitted hat. "Steve..?"

She heard some sort of muffled croak and after turning in a circle she found there was really only one place he could be hiding. She located him in the double bed under both his and her comforters, only his hair peeking out.

"Hey there. Taking a nap?" She pulled the covers off him so that she could regale him with the awesome story, but he just mewled in protest and didn't seem to share her excitement at all. She saw him shaking like a leaf, before he grabbed the blankets and wrapped himself even tighter in them. Cath smiled at her boyfriend-turned-burrito and leaned in on him. "Still feeling a bit chilled, are you, my popohau?" When she got nothing more than an incomprehensible grunt from him she patted the lump and got up. "I'll make you some tea."

As she pottered around the kitchenette she told him all about how the case had developed after he had to… abort the mission: "- and so after you gave up, Kono caught him in a flying tackle and Danny slapped the handcuffs –"

"Diddtmgvipp!" was heard from somewhere under the blankets. Cath wasn't sure what he was trying to tell her, but the grumpy tone was easily identified.

"Come again?" she asked politely as she brought him his tea. He actually emerged from his makeshift stronghold when she sat down beside him.

"I didn't give up!" he clarified indignantly and dragged himself upright, still clutching both comforters. Cath tried to hide a fond smile at the way his short-cropped hair was almost impossibly tousled. "I had to regroup and… cut my losses," he finished and scowled at her. Cath decided to not antagonize him further when his teeth started chattering; he really did look miserable.

"Drink your tea," she said and handed him the mug. "Have you eaten anything?"

He just shook his head and clutched the warm cup, reveling in the heat it provided.

"Well, no wonder you haven't been able to warm up. McGarrett without food is like… like Popeye without his spinach, like Thor without his hammer, like –" He interrupted her with a poisonous look. "Oh, come on!" she scoffed. "You have like _no_ subcutaneous fat. It's what helps us mere mortals keep warm." He ignored her in favor of his Earl Grey.

They both settled in a comfortable silence to let Steve finish his hot tea, with Cath slowly running her hand up and down his back trying to generate some heat to his frozen skin. "Better?" she asked and grabbed the cup, when he leaned back and sighed.

"Yeah, thanks," he all but whispered, exhausted by now. His not-girlfriend took his icy hand and rubbed it between her own. He let out a shaky sigh and tried to relax, drifting off, soothed by Cath's repetitive motion and the warmth it generated. He felt so heavy, so tired.

"How _did_ you manage to fall into that stream anyway?!"

He almost jumped at the sudden outburst of curiosity. Cath had a contemplative look on her face. "Danny didn't see how it happened. He is dying to know too, you know. He said that you probably tried to tackle the suspect and missed, but my bet was on him pushing -"

"You made a _bet_?!" Steve exclaimed and dropped her hand like a hot potato.

"Of course," Cath said easily, but as 'the Wrinkle' appeared between his eyes she blurted out "Danny started it!"

"Of course he did," Steve muttered darkly.

"And he bet fifty bucks," she owned up with a sigh.

"I don't believe this! How could you? My own ohana…"

"Oh, stop with the Hurt Face – you know I never fall for that."

(_Why could he never get that one right?!)_

When he grumbled and turned his back to her, she just smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Come on, my non-Arctic SEAL. Don't be grumpy. How _did_ you pass Hell Week anyway?!"

"I'm sleeping…"

"Okay, sorry. You want me to crawl in there with you? Provide some body heat?"

He turned his head and grinned. "Did it take you all this time to figure out I wanted you in bed?"

She snorted and climbed in behind him, hugging him tightly, feeling how he grew heavy against her as he drifted off again. "How did you end up in that freezing water?" she whispered in a concerned voice, stroking his hair and placing a soft kiss on his ear.

She could barely hear him when he rasped out: "I slipped on the ice."

"Hah, _Chin_ won!" Cath blurted out. "He knows you too well, it's almost scary."

Steve just buried deeper in bed and muttered something about traitors.

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><p><em>Feels like Hurt Face is going to be a recurring feature in these...<em>

_Popohau = snowball (and also a plant that looks like a snowball) It's not easy to find snow related words in Hawaiian, for some reason… ;-)_


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